Guatemala 7/1/2022 - 7/17/2022 |
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Wednesday, 7/6/2022 - Mael's 5th Birthday PartyI woke up early for work today. For breakfast, we had orange juice, scrambled eggs with tomato and onion, black beans, cheese, coffee, and tortillas.Yoselin and Humberto washed Moua, the big dog, whose fur was a bit dirty and who was suffering from fleas. Lunch was shrimp, salad, rice, tamarind juice. The shrimp had been purchased from a vendor who made his way around the neighborhood early in the morning calling out "Camarones! Camarones!" The kids' cousin Rocio's son Mael was having a 5th birthday party today. When I was done with work, we went with Paulina to her niece Ingrid's gift shop to buy gifts. Paulina bought 2 character T-shirts, and we bought a teal thermos with a cute astronaut cartoon on it. Ingrid wrapped the gifts for us. The party was at a property next to Atitlan Multicultural Academy (Aracely and Eddy's elementary school). Humberto drove us over: Aracely, Yoselin, Ivan, Paulina, Craig, and myself. The party had been scheduled to start at 2 o'clock, but that is "Chapin (Guatemalan) time". We got there shortly after 2:30, and still had to wait around 30 minutes for festivities to begin. The theme of the party was Octonauts, a cartoon concerned with conservation of oceans. The lawn was decorated with balloons and Octonaut characters. There was a clown as well. Craig encouraged me to go up to the table and take a photo of the cake. "Don't worry; the clown won't bother you." As a child, I had a fear of clowns stemming from an incident at the local amusement park. I was about 2 years old when my mom sat me down on her lap on a park bench. The park bench had a statue of a clown sitting on it. We posed next to the clown statue when unbeknownst to me, a real clown came and sat down on the other side of us as my dad snapped the photo. I was terrified, thinking that the statue had come alive. I haven't liked clowns ever since. Well, wouldn't you know, like a dog who can sense fear, this particular clown gravitated right towards me, calling me "baby" and posing with me while Humberto snapped a photo. Thanks a lot, Craig! Just as Rocio and Hector were welcoming people to the party, the heavens opened up. We quickly grabbed everything and moved it all under the porches of the buildings on the property. The clown expertly entertained the kids for a couple of hours with games, balloons, and prizes. It really does take a special sort of person to keep kids engaged for that long, and the clown certainly earned his money that day. Ivan participated in many of the games, and Paulina and Humberto were roped into participating as well. Ivan won a cool little mechanical car. After the games, there were two piñatas. Those piñatas were very durable and it took countless children and adults beating the crap out of them to finally burst them open so that candy rained down on the kids. Next, they sang happy birthday and cut the cake. Then there was a receiving line where everyone handed their gifts to Mael and received a goodie bag in return. Food was served: everyone got a chicken chuchito, a slice of cake, and a glass of horchata. The party broke up at around 6:30. We said our goodbyes and thanks to Rocio, Hector, and Mael. Rocio was very emotional and grateful that we had been able to attend. We are so proud of her...we have known her well since she was a little girl. She is such a good mom to Mael! We went back to the house, and Humberto's niece Isabel came over selling tostadas. Paulina bought enough for everyone to have a couple for dinner. Paola arrived home after having her hair done for the wedding. She had had it lightened, and it had taken four hours. Humberto teased her and called her a gringa, but it looked great! She needed to buy some dog food for Octavio. She and Eddy took Octavio on the moto to get the food. We went to bed at 9:30 p.m. Tomorrow would be another early work day. |
 Clown not bothering Steph  Craig, Steph, Yoselin, Ivan, Aracely, Mael, Rocio, Hector, clown  Rocio, Mael, Hector, and the clown See all photos from this day |
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